


Mine, Always

by deliciouslycrzy



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drabble, Drabble Sequence, Drabbles, F/M, Fluff, Gap Filler, Gen, I suppose, In-Series, Post-Series, Pre-Series, couply things, except for the pairing, sticks to canon for the most part
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-10
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-11-24 08:58:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 43
Words: 11,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/632663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliciouslycrzy/pseuds/deliciouslycrzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Saikhan and Lin aren't what you'd call a typical couple, but they certainly like to make up for it by being one of the most sickeningly sweet couples they've ever known, while also having the ability to be incredibly bad ass together and apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dancing In The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Most of these are just being archived her from my tumblr blog, which means I wrote most of them months ago. Once this is all caught up, I'll start adding new ones as I write them. These will range from obnoxiously fluffy to ridiculously angsty, and some will be AU's because I absolutely adore AUs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written as a response to a drabble request on my tumblr roleplaying account, months ago- Lin and Saikhan are in an established relationship, and this is set post- Turning The Tides, after Lin has lost her bending.
> 
> The song that Saikhan is singing at the end is actually Rue's Lullaby, from Suzan Collins books The Hunger games.

> _It’s like forgetting the words to your favorite song_

He couldn't stand that hollowness in Lin's gaze, the darkness that had found its way into green, weary eyes. Saikhan didn't, couldn't possibly understand it, not yet, but he knew that soon that he would. They wouldn't leave a bender with his bending forever, not if they could strip him of it and release him to make space. Though... He wasn't sure that they would. 

Neither of them want to think of the possibility of what else could happen to him, to her, worse than losing ones bending, but losing the other. 

 Even here, in this wooden cell as far removed from the earth or metal that the equalists could find, he could feel the faintest of the earth’s call, beyond his reach but still there. It was like a radio station set at the lowest volume before mute, words illegible and static but still  _there._ The rhythm he had felt all his life, from the moment he had been old enough to set his feet on the bare earthen path that led to the village of his youth.

But Lin couldn't, not anymore.

She had described how it had felt to him, and he had listened, not because he he had wanted to know but because he had known she needed to say it, that she needed someone to listen to what had happened to her, and so he had, holding her close against his chest as she spoke in a small whisper against his shirt. The only time, he knew, that Lin would let her defenses down would be when it was just them and the darkness, when she could close her eyes and distance herself from it without letting the world know.

Her shivers had been palbable, fear for herself, for what would happen to her now audible in her voice and that scared  _him,_ to think that his Lin, his strong, fierce Lin was  _afraid,_ because part of him still held onto that naive child's belief that Lin Beifong wasn't scared of anything. He held her, he held her close and murmured reassurances in her ear even as he beat down his own fear.

His turn was coming.

He could feel it as though it were a sixth sense, a sensation of doom in the pit of his stomach that grew as the morning dragged on, the passage of time only marked by the crack of sunlight from a hole in the top of their cell, and its movement across the wooden floorboards. Saikhan knew it was coming, and that it was only a matter of time before he was dragged from Lin's arms and out the door, towards whatever fate in store for him.

It was close.

But he couldn't think of that now,  not when this beautiful, powerful woman in his arms was looking so despondent and trying not to show it, trying to be brave for herself, for him.

Saikhan was silent for a moment, before disentangling himself from her and moving to stand. He brushed himself off absently before  extending his hand out in front of him. It was silly, his plan, but hopefully it would distract her for a moment, just long enough to let her smile, even if was simply a weary one. It felt wrong to go so long and see her so sad, even in such despondent times.

Any smile would do.

” Come on,” He coaxed with a gentle tug of his lips, and she eyed him warily for a moment, her eyes narrowed and her face drawn and pinched from exhaustion, worry and guilt, before giving a huff and nodding, accepting his hand and letting him tug her to her feet. He'd known she'd stand, that she had never been one to deny him what he asked for, as simple or silly as it may have seemed at the time.

” Sai, what-” She began, but he just pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to her cheek as he tugged her out into the middle of the cell, an arm around her waist and a hand on her shoulder. Her expression has taken on one of incredulity, and her hand on his shoulder gripped his shirt as she tried to pull away.

” Just trust me.” He murmured in her ear, and he felt her breath shudder against his cheek. Another moment and he began to turn them, slowly, as if dancing to a silent record. She stiffened against him for a moment, the whole thing seeming ridiculous to her, but relaxed against him slowly, a hand pressed against his chest so as to feel his heartbeat, slow and steady against her palm. It reminded Saikhan of all those parties they'd had to attend, where Lin would freeze up surrounded by idiotic, small talk, and he'd drag her onto the dance floor and make her smile and relax.

Her heartbeat slowed against his chest and her cheek rested against his temple as tension slipped away, for just the moment, just awhile, but it was enough all the same.

And they remained like that for awhile, hips swaying to silent music as the minutes ticked by and the light faded, and just as she was about to thank Saikhan and pull away, retreat to her corner of the cell where she could try and force herself not to wallow anymore, she heard the low, melodic sound of his voice, singing softly in her ear. He was no record breaking artist, to be sure, but the low timbre of his voice calmed her all the same, and a low sigh fell from her lips.

_” Here it is safe, here it is warm…”_

Her eyes flickered shut as she leaned against him, and a small, tired smile tugged at her lips as she recognized the tune. Her arms tightened around him, holding him close  to her, for as long as she could.

For neither knew how long that would be. 


	2. Like A Favorite Song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another drabble originally posted on my tumblr account, this one was partly inspired by a gifset floating around, but the main idea of it had been floating around my head for awhile, since I wanted to portray Lin's POV during the end of Turning The Tides as something other than 'Pining woman saving man she still loves', which I really, /really/, doubt was the case.
> 
> Mostly implied Saikhan and Lin in this one, but its still there.

> __There’s a fear in me/But it’s not showin_ _g_  
> _

” Then I’m coming with you.”

” But-“ 

She held her hand up, stopping Tenzin mid sentence. She knew what he was about to say, but she couldn’t let him say it. Her resolve was shaky enough without Tenzin saying  **his**  name, Lin’s not sure she’d be able to go through with what she planned, leaving Republic City alongside Tenzin and making sure his family gets to safety, if she thought too much longer on the thought of what they could be doing to him.

The one time she didn’t go after him, she wasn’t sure he’d still be there when she could.  Did he still have his bending, was he even still alive?-

She swallowed thickly, and shook her head.

” No arguments. You and your family are the last airbenders. There’s no way I’m letting Amon take your bending away.” 

**Not you, not anyone else.**

There were more important things in this world than ones own personal happiness, but that didn’t make it any easier of a choice to make. 

-/-/-

The airships were closing in.

No matter how much Tenzin spurred Oogie on, they wouldn’t be able to make it away. Not like this. The ropes to capture them shot out and Lin caught them, cable wrapping tight around the taped rope.

 **They**  couldn’t escape.

But Tenzin and his family could.

Her green eyes flickered close for a moment, before opening to take in the sight of the scared, terrified young airbenders curled around their mother. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Tenzin look back at her; she knew that he’d stop her if he knew what she planned.

But she had to do this. 

” Don’t look back.” 

-/-/-/-

It was just her in the airship’s hold. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or devastated. Tenzin had seen him captured, but… Maybe he’d escaped. Maybe he’d fought back and he was out there, free. Or maybe…

She didn’t want to think about the other option.

When they take her bending, she closed her eyes. She closed her eyes and  **listened.** Let the rhythm of the earth pound through her flesh and align with her heartbeat for one last time. She felt their heartbeats, steady and calm as they watched, save for one erratic, young beat. Nothing more than a kid, realizing they were out of their element.

There seemed to be a lot of that lately.

Another breath, and then there was a hand on her shoulder, and she promised herself…

**This is not the end.**


	3. Strikhedonia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick drabble written to the prompt 'Strikhedonia' on tumblr, once again. 
> 
> I was trying to see how well I could portray them both without using any dialogue, which is always a challenge for me, and I think it turned out pretty well.

They were supposed to be attending a charity ball.

Key word,  **supposed** **.**

Lin hated parties like this, and so when Saikhan had come up behind her and whispered in her ear that he’d found her an escape route, she’d readily taken his hand and let him whisk her through dancing couples, flustered wait staff and then out of the ballroom and through the kitchen.

With a wink and nod, they were on their way through the kitchen without protest from the staff. Saikhan led her out a door on the other end and down the steps onto the sidewalk. Saikhan gave her a smile before pointing down the street with his free hand, towards a small, hole in the wall late night diner. Lin nodded at him and smiled in return, before beginning to walk, pulling him behind her.

She was starving, anyway, and she was sure he was too. Lin never ate at parties like this, and Saikhan was always hungry, it seemed. They’d probably make the diner’s night, considering how empty the streets were. 

They were still holding hands and Lin couldn’t seem to care. It was late, and if people were attending the party, they were most likely in bed, and those who were awake and out…

Well. She could care less if they saw.

She squeezed his hand and he squeezed back gently. She saw the corners of his lips quirk with another smile, and her heart warmed at the simple expression.

At this. 


	4. No Artist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written to the anon prompt "Can you write a drabble about sailin romance? Like Sai doing something special for Lin?" 
> 
> And it didn't turn out exactly like I intended, and was much darker, but... I'm quite the angsty sort of writer, so it works out.

> _“Show me a garden that’s bursting into life”_

They don’t always go out walking together, contrary to what they’d prefer.

Sometimes Lin’s working, and sometimes its raining. Sometimes only one of them will end up in the clearing, staring out over the city and wondering what the other is up to, how the other is. Sometimes…

Even they need a moment apart.

A moment to breathe.

Saikhan’s found himself needing more and more of those these days, and yet he knows… Its not Lin’s fault. He knows how it hurts her, to hear the harshness in his tone, to see the darkness in his eyes when he meets her gaze.

It’s not her fault.

He knows things should be different now, now that she knows the truth, but old habits are hard to break, and he still clams up and shuts down when cases like this come up, when things get too personal.

When he gets angry.

So he comes here after work, when usually he sticks around and waits for Lin to get finished, or goes home and makes dinner. He comes here and tries his damnedest to channel his anger and darkness into something thats useful, into something that won’t hurt her.

He does it for her, so he never has to see that hurt in her eyes.

Not again.

It’s been weeks since she’s been here, in their clearing tucked away in the mountains, so she’s yet to see  **this**. See what’s he created with the dark of his thoughts, with the rage that builds in his chest whenever he sees a mistreated child or the marks on his own damn back, whenever he can’t speak when Lin asks him whats wrong.

As Saikhan steps back from his latest creation, forehead slick with sweat and hands and forearms covered with dirt and scratches, however, he feels her.

Feels her pulse in the earth and throughout the mountain, feels the steadiness and the rightness of her melding with the rhythm of the earth itself, and he turns towards the entranceway, tucked behind overgrown grass and weeds, just as she steps through.

” Saikhan… What is this?” She asks, and his gaze drops for a moment, before turning to look towards where her eyes have been drawn first.

He’s no artist.

Never fancied himself one, but he knows bending.

He knows earth and metal and stone well, and he can control it expertly, down to the last detail. It takes time, and dedication, and a certain concentration and passion that he only finds when there’s rage boiling away in his stomach and  fire in his veins, when the darkness lights his eyes and he has no choice but to let it out.

He’s silent as she steps past him, her eyes catching the light of the setting sun with a beauty, a curiosity that tugs at his heart and further dulls that which he’d come up here to escape in the first place.

” It’s… They’re beautiful, Sai.” She murmurs, reaching a hand out to delicately touch the twisted stone and earth, bent and carved into drastic, looming shapes. Some were tall, some were short, but they were intricately detailed, be they people, animals or objects.

He can’t speak, he just nods in appreciation as she turns, giving him a small smile as she steps forward and cups his cheek with the same hand that had so carefully pressed against delicate stonework.

” You’re feeling better?” She asks warmly, her eyes hopeful and features soft as she watches him, and at first, he’s simply goingg to nod, but…

” Y-yes.” He says, almost inaudibly, and gives her a small smile in return. “Much.” 

It’s always been baby steps for them.


	5. Prompt: Firm Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for a prompt thing on my roleplay blog, its just cutesy short stuff, mostly about how Saikhan can't stop touching Lin when she's cooking.

-/-/-/-/-

She’s at the stove, bent over a pot of that absolutely delicious water tribe stew she was so good at making. From the calm, almost bored beating of her heart, he could tell she didn’t know that he was there.

That he was watching.

Usually, he wasn’t allowed in the kitchen when she was cooking- the food always ended up getting burnt and they had to end up ordering take-out.

But it was worth it.

A crooked smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he advanced, his gait almost… predatory. Another moment passed, and then he tapped her on the shoulder.

She didn’t jump, but he saw the surprise in her eyes as she turned, moving just enough so that her hisp were pressed up against the counter.

Another smile, and Lin’s eye narrowed.

"Sai, what’s-" 

He cut her off with a kiss, one hand coming up to thread through her hair roughly as he pushed her up against the counter. She groaned into his mouth, arms wrapping around his neck as she kissed him back, the stew already forgotten.


	6. Prompt: Miscarriage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Miscarriage and Major Character Death. This was just- sheer pain to write, really, and it just killed me.

> _I’m miles from where you are/I pray that someone picks me up/and sets me down in your warm arms_

_She’s always known that it would never work out the way she hoped- she was too old to carry a child to term, even considering how fit she was._

_It was just- she thought that perhaps, after all that the spirits had taken from her, she would have at least; after she’d lost Saikhan in that dank, dark cell beneath the city, lost him and lost her bending and lost_   ** _him_** _most of all,_ she’d _thought that this pregnancy would be her one saving grace, that she’d have a child with his eyes and his smile and everything would be okay._

_And so she was optimistic about it, something which she’d never been accused of; she grimaces and accepts the bed rest and the medication and the restrictions, and she’s optimistic._

_Up until the morning she wakes to a stabbing ache in her abdomen and blood staining the sheets._


	7. Kinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People are always ridiculously surprised when they hear that Sai and Lin enjoy pegging.

_" I’m not - I don’t want to hurt you."_

_" It’s a strap-on, not a knife, Lin- you’re not going to hurt me, I promise."_

_" But-" He cuts her off with a kiss, hot and eager, and_ **_spirits,_ ** _Lin can never say no to that kiss, or to that crooked smile on his lips, so she sighs and smiles back and takes the object in question._


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saikhan was a destructive young man, and Lin was the one who took the brunt of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pre-SaiLin, for a three sentence drabble challenge.

_It hurts sometimes._

_No- actually, the truth is, that it hurts all the time, every time her phone rings and its him, calling to ask for her help or ask her to come over for drinks or ask her to pick him up at some sleezy apartment complex, like her heart is slowing being torn to pieces because he just won’t see, and she just can’t tell him._

_Because she loves him, and she can’t handle just being friends while she watches him tear himself apart, piece by piece._


	9. Waking Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pre-SaiLin.

Her fingers are loose, grip still so weak as her hand twines through his, but that squeeze is unmistkable, and Saikhan’s eyes flicker open as he pushes himself up; he hadn’t meant to fall asleep, hadn’t meant to close his eyes for any longer than just a second, but he had, and now- 

  
How long had she been awake? 

  
He blinks again to clear the sleep from his eyes and yawns as he leans his elbows against the mattress; she’s watching him, bright green eyes lidded, and somewhat confused, so he just smiles as her softly, before pulling his hand from hers- it had been okay when she was asleep, after he’d pulled her from the wreckage of that building, but now she was awake, and-   
" You’re going to be okay," he murmurs, with another tired smile.


	10. Band AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saikhan is the singer of the struggling band The Tigerdogs and Lin is an overworked medical student who adores his music and studies in the same coffee shop that he works in to pay the bills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Lin is a well-contained fangirl.

Sh wasn't sure where she had seen him before, the young man behind the counter - there was an easy, crooked smile on his lips as he brought her and Tenzin their order, and his voice sounded even more familiar, but she wasn't sure where from. She had asked Tenzin, but he just shrugged, and buried himself back into the beaten and worn copy of Gray’s Anatomy. They were medical students, and  _spirits_ it felt like their whole life was spent studying some medical text or another. 

It wasn't until later, when she’s coming out of a medical terminology class and she hears ’ Burning Moonlight’ over the radio that she realizes with a lurch where she’d recognized the barista from.

" You’re Saikhan." She annouced later, almost breathlessly as she walks up to the counter- she heard a snigger from out back, and flushed with embarrassment.

He blinked at her owlishly, before turning around quickly to glower at whoever was laughing in the kitchen before twisting back. “Yeah, uh-" He flushed in return, and she felt a little better. At least he wasn't the only one“That’s my name, Ma’am."

She frowns a bit at being called Ma’am, but doesn’t call him out on it, instead she just bent to pull something out of her purse, a CD she’d just pulled out of the CD player in her car.

The Tigerdogs.

" This- this is you, isn’t it?" She asks, trying not to appear too overly eager. " You’re the lead singer of the Tigerdogs."


	11. Saikhan's a Drunk This Is Known

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-Sailin. She doesn't have to do this much, but every once and awhile Lin has to tug her boyfriend out of the bottle.

" Oh Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin." 

She resisted smacking him, just barely; she always knew when he was drunk, because he always greeted her like that, loud and obnoxiously and far too ditzily for her liking, be it through her door or his- at least she was the one coming to his apartment while he was contained within, because she wasn’t looking forward to a repeat of the Spider Sai incident.

He looked up at her blearily from the couch, and she let out a resigned sigh, before moving to cross the living room and bend to press a kiss to his forehead.

" Let’s get you cleaned up," She murmured against his skin, before moving to twine an arm around his shoulders and help him sit up; he grunted but allowed it, and she felt his dopey smile against the crook of her neck.

" Y're the beeest, Linny." 

She can’t help but smile in return.

As stupid as he is, he's  _her_ idiot.


	12. I Will Follow You Into The Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for a song drabble prompt. SaiLin, after they've both lost their bending.

> " I Will Follow You Into The Dark" - Deathcab For Cutie
> 
> _You and me_   
>  _Have seen everything to see_   
>  _From Bangkok to Calgary_   
>  _And the soles of your shoes_   
>  _Are all worn down_   
>  _The time for sleep is now_   
>  _It’s nothing to cry about_   
>  _‘Cause we’ll hold each other soon_   
>  _In the blackest of rooms_

He’s dying- she can hear it with every rattle of a choked breath, see it with every ragged rise and fall of his chest. She’s pulled him out of his armor already, in a hope to try and warm him, but it doesn’t matter anymore. 

It hasn’t mattered for hours.

Where his sopping wet shirt isn’t clinging to his shaking form, he’s soaked through with sweat, and his skin is clammy and cold to the touch.

Lin knows she’s going to lose him, lose him to the darkness and damp of their tiny cell, lose him to the water in his lungs and the rasp in his breath, and it terrifies her, but not so much as the fact that she knows the truth

_knows that its her fault_

_that it will always be her fault_

_that every day after will hurt because he’s not with her, not breathing and laughing and whispering ‘shijian’ in her ear_

and so as much as she wants him to finally be free of the pain, as much as she wants him to finally be able to rest, she wants him to  **live** so much more.


	13. Everything Will Be Alright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requested by Caffeinatedlee; a music drabble, set right after Lin has lost her bending.

> _I believe in you and me_

Her nails dug into her palm until she could feel the blood weeping from half moon crescents in the flesh of her hand. She forced her attention away from the silence in the metal, of the hard rigidity where it had all once been fluid.

Because she had other concerns.

He wasn’t here, in the cells on the airship. It was open, and she could see all of them, all the prisoners taken by the Equalists, and Saikhan wasn’t amongst them.

None of her men were.

Her tongue flicked over her dry bottom lip, and she had to let out a long, deep breath between clenched teeth. Had they escaped? Had they been stripped of their bending already? Or were they…

No.

They couldn’t be. They were her men.

Her Sai.

He had to be alive, and she knew he was. She believed in him, she always had, and she had faith in  _him_ , in the fact that she knew he’d never leave her.

No matter what. _  
_

But she couldn’t help the anxiety twisting in her stomach, or the way her fists clenched tighter the longer she spent in the dark. Because though she had faith, she also had fear, and that was slowly eating away at her staunch belief in _him._

It wouldn’t be long until she had nothing left.


	14. Achilles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's his Sifu, but even so it takes Saikhan more than a little prodding to finally tell her why the ferry trips to Air Temple Island always make him so uncomfortable.

> **Achilles:**  my character reveals their weakness to yours.

His hand tightened around the edge of the rail of the Ferry, and he tried to focus his gaze on the island ahead of them, and not the water rocking the boat and stretching on between them and dry, steady land. He hated boats, hated water, but Sifu wanted to stand by the edge and so he stood with her, his knuckles near white as he clung to the rail.

" Sai… Are you alright?" Her tone was concerned, and that sent him for a loop, the boy still not used to concern from adults, not used to people caring about him, so when she asked, it tumbled from his tongue before he could bite it back.

" I-I don’t like water, Sifu." He hated how scared he sounded, how much like a baby, and his eyes squeezed shut in shame, his small frame turning from her. 

She was silent, and the boy thought that she must have been trying not to laugh at him like most people did, and his cheeks flush red with embarassment, and he was ready to snap out that it wasn’t funny when-

A hand grabbed him by his shoulder and tugged him close, and he felt himself being pressed against Sifu as she knelt and wrapped her arms around him, holding him close and shielding him from the ocean. He let out a gasp and she murmured,

"Don’t tell anyone, Shortie."


	15. Miscarriage 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was never meant to have children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear to god the next time I get a miscarriage prompt I am going to make it 'Miscarriage of Justice' because this just isn't fair.

The tile were red, white tiles stained crimson with every second that passed. It ran as rivers through the cracks, and though Saikhan knew that he had to stand, had to begin cleaning it up before he left to go to the hospital because else it would crack and stain and still be here when he brought Lin home.

If.

She’d been bleeding so much, staining her already dark trousers black, and she’d been so pale as she whimpered in pain, silently begging him to help, to make the pain stop.

Akna had come, had stabilized her and brought her to the hospital and though he’d wanted to go with her immediately… He couldn’t. Not yet. He couldn’t face her in the hospital, pale and distraught and blaming herself, when it was obvious that it was his fault.

It had to be, and he just…

He couldn’t tear his gaze away from red and blood and tiles, from all that was left of the child they’d so desperately wanted.

From bloody mess and the handprint on the cracked mirror.


	16. Brontide

The capture of the Avatar was like the rumbling of thunder before the storm. The Equalists were getting bolder and stronger, if they had the guts to attack City Hall, and attempt capture of both Councilman Tarrlok and Avatar Korra. 

Saikhan hung up the phone on its hook and pressed his hand against his forehead with an exhausted sigh. It was Saturday, he’d been hoping to have a nice, relaxing day spent with Lin, but… It was 3 AM and he was needed at the scene for a major, media-stirring case, and he couldn't afford to not show up, as much as he wanted to ask Lieutenant Song to go in his stead.

He was The Chief, it was his duty, and so… He left. Dressed in silence and left her sleeping, curled up in his blankets and oblivious to what had just happened.

He wouldn't wake her. 

This might just be the last restful sleep she had for awhile, if it truly was the rumble before the storm spread across the city.


	17. A Fear In Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was inspired by a gifset I saw on my dash - it's not specifically SaiLin, but it has undertones of it, and this is one of my favorite things I've ever written in Lin's point of view.

_" Then I’m comin_ _g with you."_

_" But-"_

_She held her hand up, stopping Tenzin mid sentence. She knew what he was about to say, but she couldn’t let him say it. Her resolve was shaky enough without Tenzin saying **his**  name, Lin’s not sure she’d be able to _ _go through with what she plans, leavin_ _g Republic City alongside Tenzin and making sure his family gets to safety, if she thou_ _ght_ _too much longer on the thought of what they could be doing to him._

_The one time she didn’t go after him, she wasn’t sure he’d still be there when she could._ _Did he still have his bending, was he even still alive?-_

_She swallowed thickly, and shook her head._

_" No arguments. You and your family are the last airbenders. There’s no way I’m letting Amon take your bending away."_

_**Not you, not anyone else.** _

_There were more important thin_ _gs in this world than ones own personal happiness, but that didn’t make it any easier of a choice to make._

_-/-/-_

_The airships were closing in._

_No matter how much Tenzin spurred Oogie on, they wouldn’t be able to make it away. Not like this. The ropes to capture them shot out and Lin caught them, cable wrapping tight around the taped rope._

_**They**  couldn’t escape._

_But Tenzin and his family could._

_Her green eyes flickered close for a moment, before opening to take in the sight of the scared, terrified young airbenders curled around their mother. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Tenzin look back at her; she knew that he’d stop her if he knew what she planned._

_But she had to do this._

_" Don’t look back."_

_-/-/-/-_

_It was just her in the airship’s hold. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or devastated. Tenzin had seen him captured, but… Maybe he’d escaped. Maybe he’d fou_ _ght back and he was out there, free. Or maybe…_

_She didn’t want to think about the other option._

_When they take her bending, she closed her eyes. She closed her eyes and **listened.** Let the rhythm of the earth pound throu_ _gh her flesh and align with her heartbeat for one last time. She felt their heartbeats, steady and calm as they watched, save for one erratic, young beat. Nothing more than a kid, realizing they were out of their element._

_There seemed to be a lot of that lately._

_Another breath, and then there was a hand on her shoulder, and she promised herself…_

_**This is not the end.** _


	18. Odaxelagnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vampire AU. Lin's a vampire and Saikhan's not, basically, and she absolutely loves to feed from him but hates to ask.

_Most of the time, when Lin fed from him, it was because she had to._

_It was occasions like that that she hated, when she felt as if he’d had no choice but to offer his neck to her. Where she was so hun_ g _ry that_ _he had to force her from him and his neck scarred…_

_But tonight was not one of those nights._

_Tonight was her idea, a spur of the moment thing in the post-sex haze, while they were lying on their bed in a tangle of naked and sweaty limbs. She was pressing aimless kisses to his neck when he twisted, just enou_ _gh for his throat to bare to her as he shifted._

_Lin’s breath cau_ _ght in her throat. She could see the blood pulsin_ _g in his neck, and smell it, as well. It had always smelled sweet to her for the most part, and… tantalizin_ _g._

_Even thou_ _gh she’d already fed toni_ _ght, she was feelin_ _g just a pit… playful. Hun_ _gry, but mostly as thou_ _gh she wanted to please him, and she knew full well how much he loved this._

_So she’d indul_ _ge him, just this once._

_" Sai, may I?" She asked, her lips pressin_ _g a_ _gainst his pulse,_ _and from the way his heart skipped a beat, Lin knew she didn’t have to elaborate. She looked up at him, a smile tu_ _g_ _gin_ _g at the corners of her lips, and she could see the desire burnin_ _g in his eyes, the want and need._

_He nodded slowly, and her smile widened a moment before she bent once more. Her teeth scraped his skin teasin_ _gly before she finally bit down, teeth piercin_ _g flesh with a quiet pop._

_Lin felt him shudder and flex beneath her as she took her first draw of blood, and she smirked_   _a_ _gainst his skin_. _Her hand, the one that had been entwined with his up until now, li_ _ghtly brushed against his bare chest, fingertips teasingly playing over the slick expanse of his abdomen. Her eyes flickered upwards, fixed on the way his eyelids squeezed shut, his mouth seemed to twist at the corners in pleasure, the way she saw his jaw ti_ _ghten in an attempt to keep from crying out._

_Her hand moved further down to curve alon_ _g his hip while the other slipped up to run through his hair; his blood on her tongue seemed to invigorate her, to send a shock of playfullness and desire shooting through her core, a desire for more._

_Fin_ _gers ti_ _ghtened in his hair, tu_ _g_ _gin_ _g his head back to further expose his neck as her other hand brushed, ever so sli_ _ghtly a_ _gainst the now obvious si_ _gn of his arousal before_ _grippin_ _g his shaft firmly._

_Lin felt another rush of pleasure as she felt the muscles of his neck ti_ _ghten, and heard the nearly inaudible moan that slipped from between clenched teeth._

_Lin had always loved to watch him come undone._


	19. Ablutophilia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even after they get together, Saikhan's still a bit of a masochist. Lin tries to break him of it.

_His skin’s still burning from the heat of the shower pounding down on his skin, but its nothing compared to the chill of her palms against his shoulders, or the pain and helpless he spots in her eyes as his eyelids flicker shut._

_She knows now, why he does this, why his skin’s so hot after these long showers that she’s never known him to take, why he winces when she touches him right afte. She doesn’t know why, and though she’s asked…_

_He can’t tell her._

_So he just says that its how he copes, how he deals with things, and the pain in her face kills him, as does the low, almost broken way she whispers in his ear, “Please, Sai…Don’t."_

_And even though he promises, the words are hollow coming from his lips, and he doesn’t trust himself not to turn it back on the moment she leaves the bathroom, so he pulls her into a kiss instead, hard and bruising but exactly what he needs as her teeth scrape over his bottom lip and he moans into her mouth._

_Exactly what he’s always needed._


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saikhan has a thing for sweets, and Lin always indulges him.

It’s shortly after their tenth anniversary, and he can’t keep his eyes off her. He’s not sure what it is, but it has to have something to do with the chocolate she left on his desk.

Has to.

So he slips into her office, under pretense, and with the box of chocolates tucked in between a stack of folders, he approaches her desk. He can’t quite hide his smirk, and she can see the sort of mood he’s in, but when he kisses her, a chocolate in his mouth, in her chair, pins her back and runs his hands over her, under her uniform and along her inner thighs, she knows that he’s in an entirely different mood than she expected.

She knows she should be suspicious, especially when after a moment, he ends the sticky, sweet kiss and presses his lips to her neck, running his tongue lightly along her pulse, and then…

Pulls back entirely, straightens his uniform and leaves.

She seethes and he smirks as the door slams shut behind him.

Oh, how he’s going to pay for that one later. 


	21. Protect

She doesn’t see it coming.

They’re not used to this, used to fighting against blades and knives at close distance, but they’ve adapted,like the police force has always adapted, and it just means that their bending must be more precise and well aimed, at least when they have it, because they’re using chi-blocking as well.

From the way Sai’s moving, too quick and precise, she realizes he’s already lost his momentarily, and has  had to switch to chi-blocking himself, but before she can make sure he’s okay, he’s twisting off and neutralizing a few more, so she shakes her head and keeps moving.

Keeps fighting.

Knocking their attackers out before they can get too close seems simple, but sometimes… sometimes, one will slip through the metaphorical cracks.

Lin doesn’t see it coming, but Saikhan does, and she doesn’t understand, for a moment, why he’s stopped in front of her, his shoulders stiff as though in pain, but then she sees it, and it is as though the world has slowed to slow motion.

The tip of the blade sticking out just left of his spine winks at her as the sun hits it, and her gasp is almost inaudible to her over the roaring of blood in her ears, over the low chanting of his name as she tries to gget him to look at her, to prove to her that its not real.

And then the blade slips out as the man holding it gets flung back, and time catches up to them in a painful instant.

He falls back, stumbles really, and she catches them with a strangled cry, her hands fluttering over the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, as she calls him and idiot and he just smiles that stupid lopsided smile of his and says it’s not as bad as it looks.

**Idiot.**


	22. Dream

Sometimes he dreams of a world where Lin had left him, all those years ago.

Where he never left the island with her, and never joined the Academy. Where his mother kicked him out when he was fifteen and he ended up on his own, too damn stubborn to go to his sisters.

He dreams of a world where he passes her in the street and she doesn’t recognize him but he does, and instead of feeling content and happy to see her, he feels nothing but rage and anger for the woman who abandoned him.

A world where he hates her and she doesn’t even know who he is.

Less of dream and more of a nightmare, really, and he usually wakes in a cold sweat with blood on his lips from where he’d bitten down trying not to cry out, and Lin’s staring at him through the darkness, her green eyes worried, concerned.

And all he can say is, “I’m fine," Before laying back down and turning his back to her, staring hard at the far wall and trying not to thick of the sudden, irrational swelling of anger that had followed him from the world of nightmares.


	23. Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what started my roleplay partner and I's whole obsession with Sai and Lin and the Fire/Ice dynamic they have.

> _‘Some say the world will end in fire’_

_She once used to tell him about the darkness in his eyes. She hated to see it, she’d say, and once… She’d told him that it scared her. To see him so unlike himself._

_It only happened on rough cases, or with a particularly twisted perp, and it always,_ **always,**   _went away, and he’d feel himself come back, feel the red hot anger disappear as she twined his fingers with his and pressed a kiss to his cheek, to remind him that there was still something to smile about._

_To remind him that he still had his shijian, his world, and that everything was okay._

_Lin Beifong was.._

_The light to his dark, like he was the warmth to her cold, and she kept him grounded as he kept her smiling, kept that light in her eyes from going out._

_Except when he couldn’t._

_Except when his world ended with a pained gasp and whispered ‘I love you’, as he lost all sense of balance, all sense of rightness and tether, as he floated on when she fell so still._

_He was always angry now._

_Always red hot and burning, with the horrifying darkness in his eyes that scared away anyone who tried to comfort him._

_Lin Beifong was dead, and all that was good and kind and light in him died with her._


	24. Safe In The Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-SaiLin. There's a building collapse, and no one else believes him, but he knows that she's still alive in there.

> "If there is no one else beside you when your soul embarks/I will follow you into the dark."

He’d almost lost her.

Lost the woman who’d dragged him from the place that probably would have ended up being his downfall. The woman who’d rescued him, unknowingly, from his own special hell-plane on earth.

Every one else had just about given up hope on finding her after the building collapse, and he’d just about snapped their heads off when they tried to keep him from going in after her. They weren’t listening, none of them were, not to him, not to the earth, which plainly told him that Lin was still alive, but not for much longer if he didn’t hurry.

" But Chief-" 

" I am not  **Chief** , Lieutenant Song, and you’d do well to remember that before I get back with Chief Beifong, or she’ll have your head for her fireplace." He bit back, pulling off the heavy metal of his chest armor and tossing it the side. His gloves went too, leaving him just in the dark shirt and gray pants that he wore underneath the chestplate. 

" But  **sir** ," Song emphasizing the ‘sir’, and Saikhan just grunts in irritation as the man follows after him towards the collapsed building, " We’ve been searching for hours, and no sign of her." He stepped in front of his commanding officer, a determined expression on his features even as he swallowed nervously at the nearly murderous rage on Saikhan’s. “We’re just about to declare her dead, sir."

" And if you do, you’re all idiots. Can’t you fucking hear that? That heartbeat?" He asked, gritting his teeth and pressing on past Song, into the barely cleared entrance to the building."She’s alive." 

She had to be.


	25. Warm My Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-Sailin. It kills her to see him like this.

> _" They don’t know you like I do."_

She bites her tongue so often that it’s a miracle it’s still attached.

It hurts to see the bruises that darken his skin like paint upon canvas, the long gouging marks of nails digging into flesh, or worse, the reddening, tell tale sign of burns. Its a burning hatred that she lets fester, stoked whenever she needs to give him stitches or bandages, or spirits forbid another splint, and she would like nothing better than to split the skulls of those bastards who dare do this to him.

But if she did that…

She’d have to hurt him too, and she just… She couldn’t do that. Part of her hates him for letting them do this to him, for letting it get so bad, but that doesn’t stop her from helping him when she can.

She couldn’t hurt him anymore than he already was.

So she bites her tongue when she sees him beaten and bloody, knowing that if she puts up any more fuss that he’ll stop calling, stop asking for help, and spirits she can’t imagine him doing this by himself, so she says nothing, night after night.

She knows whatever she says won’t matter.

He’s said just as much when drunk, slurring his words and looking so lost and pathetic that it breaks her own, drunk heart when he mumbles, " Can’- Can’t stop, Linny. Can’ find it. S’gotta find it. S’always worried ‘bout slipping. Got to find it." 

He’s never told her what ‘it’ was, but she can only hope that he finds it before he ends up injured beyond repair, or… Or worse. He’s her friend, and she feels like… She’s failed him, somehow.

So she stays, because she knows that she’s all he has, in the end. She’s all he has to remind her that world isn’t so horrible, that he isn’t so  horrible.


	26. Obvious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes its just them sitting and watching the stars, and that’s okay too.

The lights of the city twinkle in the distance, brighter than the very stars above them, but still just a glimmer on the horizon from where they are, tucked away on a small ledge on the edge of the mountain, only accessible by those who knew where to look. 

By the two of them. 

She smiled over at him as they crested the final tunnel and stepped out from beneath the low stone arch - the entryway hadn’t always been so easy to pass, it had taken them a few visits to bend the stone into something suitable enough, but beyond that… They’d done little to affect this small, secret little ledge.  

It was their place, a small corner of the world that they could claim as just theirs, as somewhere that only they knew of. A small, tucked away meadow hidden by the sheer mass of the mountain and the grass that grew wild along the edges, with a large oak tree with roots that had stubbornly worked their way into the stone and granite that made up the mountain and the maze of caves within, fighting for every drop of water and air that had made it grow tall and strong. 

Here, they were safe. For years, it had been the one place where they knew they wouldn’t be found, wouldn’t be discovered, the one place they could both simply  **be,** and not worry about watching eyes and loose tongues ready to bring them both down.

And now…

It was more important than ever that they not be overheard and spied on - what with her resignation and Saikhan’s new, carefully observed position as Chief, and they’d had to be even more discrete with their relationship, with everything.

It was chafing, almost suffocating - each night passed in her own bed, alone and chilled was a night spent sleepless, as she thought of how his own attempts at sleeping, and more often than not either she or he would be woken by the ringing of the telephone, to hear the harsh broken whisper of the other saying they just wanted to hear their voice.

Their lives were lies and slander and deciet and moments stolen between planning and plotting, and just simply getting by now, while they tried their damnedest to keep the city from falling apart.

It was these moments, where she could lean against him, head tucked against his shoulder and his arm around her waist as they reclined against the branches of the old oak tree and simply watched the lights, these were the moments that got them both by, that refreshed them in ways that weren’t visible or obvious, but it…

It was all they needed.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's always the new ones who stare. The rest of the cops stationed at Headquarters already know better.

" Sir, is that a-"

Saikhan stiffened as he stepped from the shower, quickly tugging his shirt quickly over his chest and hiding the long, purpling bruises that spattered his upper torso and arms like paint splatter, before looking up to meet the gaze of Kehn, the new recruit who was staring at him from where he stood by his locker.

" Bruises, cadet. Never seen ‘em before?" He asked dryly, as he raised a hand to run through his hair casually, as though it wasn’t taking all of his concentration to keep his heartbeat from racing. Most of them were new - he and Lin had an argument the night before, and, as most of their disputes did, it had ended with…

Well.

Nothing neither of the liked to talk about in mixed company, especially not at work.

" Ye-Yes sir, I have but-" The cadet stuttered, and Saikhan held up a hand, opening his mouth to silence Kehn, but then was interupted, by a clear, no-nonsense voice cuttingg through the steam-filled air of the mens locker room.

" Sometimes, Officer Kehn, it’s better not to ask." She said, and Saikhan raised an eyebrow, turning to look at Lin, who was lounging quite easily against the doorframe. 

" Chief, you’re aware this is the mens locker room?" Saikhan asked, trying to bite back the amused smirk tugging at his lips as he moved to where he’d left his armor; he couldn’t help but notice the fact that Kehn was standing as though frozen, a deer-mouse caught in the headlights, as it were.

Poor kid.

Lin gave him a look,  _that_  look, the one that said ‘I’m the chief, I do what I want’, before her gaze shifted to Kehn. “At ease, Officer. I’m not going to bite your head off for what I assume is _titillating_  locker room talk. Now, Captain…" She turned back to Saikhan, and only he could see the glimmer of amusement and… something _else_  in those eyes.

" My office, five minutes. Don’t be late." 

And then she was gone as quickly as she had appeared, and Saikhan glanced back over at Cadet Kehn, who looked beyond confused, and was still incredibly flushed. Saikhan’s eyes narrowed at that, but shook it off, and gave a snort instead.

"Yeah, you’ll want to get used to that, kid. Won’ be the first or the last- Chief does what she wants." 

Whatever she wants.


	28. Uniform

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the end, the uniform is just that, but even so- he'll always be partial to old gray rather than black.

In theory, the rule that the moment the uniform goes on, everything is strictly professional, works. It’s practical and it makes sense, to keep personal and professional completely separate, and they both understand it and how and why it should work to make this easy.

In practice, however…

In spare moments between filling out paperwork and interrogating suspects and patrol can’t help but think about her in an entirely not professional capacity, think about the way she smiled at him the night before, the sensation of her thumb brushing over his jaw as she kisses him, the fact that, finally, after all these years…

She w his, and uniform or not, that wouldn’t be changing anytime soon, not if he could help it.

It wasn’t easy, or as simple as they had hoped - just by slipping the metal and leather over their heads, it couldn’t erase the way he felt about her, they way she felt about him, it couldn’t negate the way his heart swelled when she gave him that slight, barely there smile as she walked by his desk.So far there had been no problems, nothing major that had called for either of them to question the disappearance of boundaries, so neither had mentioned anything just yet.

Why would they?

Nothing was as black and white as they’d ever hoped it’d be, but…

Saikhan had always been more partial to the color gray, anyway.


	29. Submerge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's not drowning, not this time.

The tile is cool and slippery against his bare back; it is his stability, echoing through his skin and through his blood, and it it grounds him as the steaming hot water pounds against their flesh; it’s almost too hot, and its wet and just that should have sent him flying out from beneath the spray, but her hands on his waist and her lips pressed against the hollow of his throat have him pinned.

  
But he’s not trapped, he’s not drowning – she has him even as the water pours down, firm kisses against slick skin, the whisper of breath as she leans up and gently bites his earlobe, lips twitching into a faint smile as she feels his shudder and moan, echoing through the stone and through her own chest, because she knows its not one of fear, as it had once been, and even if its not much…

It’s still progress.


	30. What Is This Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Lin kisses Saikhan for the first time, he thinks about what it means, and comes to the wrong conclusion.

" Bet you weren’t expecting that, were ya’, shortie?" Toph’s voice cut through his reverie and Saikhan starts, jumping slightly from his place by the window with a grunt and a glower in the older woman’s direction. Unbeknownst to all but he and Toph, the metal frame of the window rippled with his surprise, leaving no trace but for the vaguest of ripples where its corners met. 

She gave him a smirk, and then nudged him hard in the side. “It’s what you always wanted, kid. Why aren’t you kicking down the hospital in sheer joy?" She asked, kicking her foot against the floor as if in demonstration.

He raised an eyebrow at her, lips twitching into a slight, bemused grimace. 

" Because vandalism isn’t how I express myself, Chief." He said stiffly in response, before turning back to the window and placing his palms flat against the sill and leaning forward. A moment passed, and his shoulders slumped, as he let out a much less stiff, and much more drawn out, exhausted sigh.

Toph frowned as she felt him shift, felt his heart rate change, and she stepped forward, a hand coming out to rest on his shoulder. She’d known Saikhan since he was just a boy, and she’d known about the fact that he was in love with her daughter since the moment he’d known - there wasn’t much he could hide from her, the man she thought of as her own son.

" Seriously kid, what’s wrong?"

He gave a sigh, eyelids flickering closed over troubled green, and he shook his head.

" I don’t- I don’t know why she did that. She- She doesn’t owe me anything, why- ow, damnit, Toph." He hissed, interrupted by a heavy boot kicking him in the shin. He stumbled slightly but remained upright.

"What- why in the spirits did you do that?"

" Because you’re an idiot. Now go kiss her back before I decide we’d all be better off with me bending you through that damn window." 

" I-"

"GO."


	31. Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A phone call in the middle of the night.

" Lin, it’s late, and I… I just… It’s ridiculous, really, and, damn it, I just… I wanted to hear your voice. To know that you’re… No, you don’t have to come over- please, Lin, just… Don’t hang up." 


	32. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are some things he only allows Lin to do.

She’s the only one he lets this close to his back.

The only person he trusts to just walk up on him from behind and press against him, arms around his waist and chest against his back, heart beating steadily against marked skin as her lips brush his ear and she murmurs a low greeting against his skin.

Lin has seen him at his worst, knows the truth of what marks his back, and she doesn’t run, doesn’t hide.

And that’s why he trusts her so implicitly, with his back, with…

With his everything.


	33. Marry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've always done things their own way.

Usually it was the man who popped the question.

Usually.

But… Saikhan and Lin were no typical couple, and they rarely ever did anything in the way that anyone else went about doing it. At least they could say they followed traditions, in the most nontraditional of ways.

So, while it was Saikhan who proposed the idea of a proposal, it was Lin who made  the decision to book the airship tickets to Kyoshi, who knocked on Rin’s door and declared, with a confident smirk, “I’m ready for that fight now."

But there was Kyoshi tradition, Earth Kingdom tradition and lastly, Water Tribe tradition, all vying, and somehow, some way, they made it work. 

They always did.

Lin loops the bracelet around Saikhan’s wrist and smiles, as she leans up to press a kiss to his cheek. Her whisper of ‘mine’, sends a shock of love and desire shooting through him, and if it weren’t for the fact that they were surrounded by his sisters and their families, he probably would have dragged her off right then and there, but since they were, he contented himself with a kiss, long and deep and possessive, because while he was hers…

She was his, too.

_Until death do us part._


	34. Tender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saikhan has problems with water, in any form.

She can hear his breathing, quick and shallow as she curls her hand around his wrist and tugs him gently out from under the archway and into the rain, her thumb resting against his rapid pulse as the droplets rained against their skin.

"Trust me," she murmurs, as her other hand comes up to cup his cheek, thumb brushing a rain drop from his skin as she bent down and kisses him, lips gentle as they move over his, her hand even more so as it moved from his cheek back to his hair, fingers trailing along his hairline while her other leaves his wrist and trails up his chest, to press against his heart.

The rain keeps pouring down but she feels his heartbeat slow and even out under her palm, as her lips move over his, the kiss slow and easy and distracting. His arms are around her waist, holding her close and tight, and she murmurs, “I’m here, I’ve got you," with every break for breath, before pressing another, deep kiss to his lips.

It only lasts for a few more seconds, before he’s pulling back and stepping back under the arch, and Lin knows, that its not the break through either of them had been hoping for.

But it was a start.


	35. Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He will always believe in her.

She has always made him feel safe, protected. 

Always.

Even now, when he’s grown past being the small, wide-eyed kid from Kyoshi, when he was grown and strong on his own right, she still had the ability to make him feel safe and wanted. When she wrapped around him and holding him tight, pressing kisses to his neck and running her thumb along his knuckles. 

He wouldn’t admit it- he hadn’t admitted it when he was a child, and he sure as hell wouldn’t admit it now, but…

He had never felt safe, not until he’d met her and her mother and Sokka. They had made him feel safe, feel wanted, feel important. His sisters had tried, but there wasn’t much they could do against their mother, and…

He’d never had anyone fight for him before. 

Not before them.

Not before  **her.**

Perhaps that was why he was so dedicated to her, why, even before they’d gotten together, he would lay down his life for her. Why he would never accept a posting anywhere else but Republic City, why he wouldn’t transfer to another district’s precinct. 

She had helped save him, all those years before. She’d helped give him a life, and helped him keep it.

And he’d follow her into hell if she asked him to. 


	36. Someone To Carry You Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. A Beifong is always the last one standing, even when she doesn’t want to be.

Saikhan had always been too damn  _young._

She’d met him when he was twelve, a tiny, scrawny little runt of a boy who apparently ‘would have given you a run for your money at that age, Squirt’ and he’d been too little, too innocent and naive to be trained to fight, but she’d done it, because she’d seen that fire in his eyes. 

And he’d been powerful, even at that age, too powerful to be left to his own devices. 

Her mother had known it, and Lin had learned it, later. 

But he’d still been too young. Too young to fight, when he was accepted on the force at 17, too young to have that hardened wariness in his eyes when on the job. Too young to kill, and yet he had.

For duty, for the city. For his people. 

He’d been too young for her, and yet eventually she had caved - saying no to him had always been so difficult, and… She loved him, she really did. Loved that look in his eyes when she saw him bending, the slightest of smirks the first time she’d shown him how to use the cables to swing around the city. The steady beating of his heart felt through the earth beneath them first, but then through her palm.

She had known it better than her own.

A strong, steady beat that had been a constant part of the soundtrack of her life for close to thirty years, and now…

Her eyes flickered open as she felt the ship beneath her feet shudder to a stop, and she stood, arms wrapping almost protectively around what she’d come here to deliver.

Lin stepped off of the boat onto the sturdy docks, and she was reminded of years passed, when she’d come here with her mother to observe the little runt of a boy her mother called Shortie. She remembered the first time she felt the vibrations of his heartbeat through the earth, fast but steady, as he ran down the path that connected his vilage to the dockyard, bare feet slapping against warm earth. His grin had been wide, even as his heartbeat raced through the soles of her feet, and now, thirty years later…

A week had passed since it had stilled and fallen silent beneath her palm, and all that she had left of him, where a living, breathing human being once stood was a cold, metal urn, held close to her chest, as she began the journey from the docks to his village, bringing him home for…

For the last time.

One hand fell from the cold stone urn and she raised it, pressing it against her mouth as a sudden, choked sob rose in her throat. She bit it back, but her eyes stung with tears, and she let those flow unchecked, hot, angry tears splashing from her cheeks onto the chilled stone hugged against her chest.

Sai, you damn idiot, why-

_Why…_

Saikhan had always just been too damn young.

 _Too_  young for the academy.

Too  _young_  for her.

Too young to  _die_.


	37. Old Friends.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: Watching from afar as Tenzin and Lin share a glance and refer to each other as "old friends".

It still hurt occasionally, all of that old jealousy.

It had never truly gone away, even after he and Lin had gotten together; it had been a part of him for so long that he doubted it would ever fade completely. It rarely reared its ugly head, but when it did…

It was almost a gnawing, literal pain in his chest, as he watched the two of them from the shadows of the pavilion.

He’d come to the island to offer his assistance - one of their informants had let slip that Air Temple Island was a potential target, and though he knew that assigning a whole squadron to the island would do more harm than good, he couldn’t leave the island defenseless.

He hadn’t known she would be here, but… He should have. Tenzin was one of her oldest friends, and…

He looked away as she touched his shoulder.

The airbender had been a piece of her life long before he’d ever come into it- he shouldn’t have been feeling like this, logically he knew…

But since when was jealousy logical? 


	38. Kiss Me Take Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first time came somewhat unexpectedly. Their first kiss, that is.

He wasn’t expecting it - not at all.

One moment he’s by her bedside, explaining how she’d been found in the rubble beneath the collapsed building, and the next she has her bruised fingers wrapped around the back of his neck and was pulling him forward, into a deep kiss.

He remembers freezing, if only for a moment, before leaning in to better capture her lips with his own, his dirt and bloodstained hand splayed on the too-white pillow next to her head for balance. Her lips are surprising soft, but the kiss was nothing but, and when it’s finally broken, they’re both gasping.

She stares at him before, and for a moment he thinks he sees what would be considered fear in any other person, “Saikhan-"

A laugh interrupts, clear cut and far too familiar, and Saikhan feels his cheeks redden as he hears the barking chuckle of one former Chief Toph Beifong, followed by an exuberant, " Finally got what you wanted, eh Shortie?"

He flushes deeper, and a growl echos from Lin’s throat.

" MOTHER." 


	39. Two Sides of A Sticky Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-SaiLin.

He’s too damn young for her.

She’s not Tenzin, chasing after some dow-eyed acolyte. She’s Lin Beifong, and she doesn’t need the distraction he’s providing without him even realizing it. A stolen glance across the squad room when no one else is looking, catching the way that his uniform curves over muscle. Thoughts, drifting towards steamy, unseemly directions when she’s not being careful and she starts to wonder what he tastes like, and how those power muscles would feel, trembling beneath her touch.

  
It’s wrong, to be thinking these thoughts about a man who she’d known as nothing more than a child, the man she’d taught and trained to be one of the best damned officers in the whole force. She knows he can’t possibly feel the same way, not anymore, and even if he did…

She just… She couldn’t.

He was too young.

**-/-/-/-/-**

For years, Saikhan had disliked the Councilman, even when he’d been young, barely thirteen and hopelessly in love, or so he’d thought, with his Earthbending master. He’d convinced himself it was because the man was stuck up, and far too serious. 

It wasn’t until later that he’d realized that he’d been jealous, even so young, and when the councilman and his master had parted ways, that dislike had turned to hate, for making Sifu Lin look so sad.

Tenzin had what he’d wanted, and he’d gone and squandered it, like a fool.

A damn fool.


	40. It's Too Soon.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was far too soon, and Lin just can't bring herself to say goodbye.

Everything is blurred, and he’s staring at his hands, covered in blood; he knows everything should hurt, but it doesn’t. Saikhan is numb to everything but the heat of Lin’s hand entwined with his, and the searing warmth where her tears had fallen upon his cheeks.

He wants to close his eyes, he’s tired, but when he tries…

" Don’t you dare! That’s an order, Captain, keep those damn eyes open, and keep fighting!" Her words crack as she speaks, as her hand tries to hold the towel against the wound with as much success as one would have trying to dam a leak with a paper towel. 

His mouth twitches into a slight, small and tired smile. He feels the blood drying on his lips from where he’d choked it up earlier, and his visions darkens and flickers, like someone was messing with the lights. He knows its soon when he feels the air go out of his lungs again, like he’s still choking, and as he speaks in rasping, broken tones, Saikhan raises his right hand to his temple, in a slow, unsteady salute.

" I’ll see you later, sir."

And then his hand fell, and the unsteady staggering of his chest simply…

stopped.


	41. Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan is set in progress, and while neither of like it- it's what they have to do.

He’s nothing more than a puppet, Councilman Tarrlok’s loyal dog, the papers say and the people whisper. His own men,  **her** men, give him supsicious glances when they think he’s not looking, as though they’re starting to believe the hype.

To be honest…

He has a hard time not believing it, himself. 

He hates that he has to stand by and watch as that bastard tears apart his city, as he squanders the citizens rights and makes a mockery of the law, he hates that he can’t do anything, but… 

" You want him to trust you. To think you’re…"

"For him to think he has me wrapped around his little finger, I know, sir. It’s simply… not easy." 

To stand by and do nothing while your city crumbles at your feet. 

He’s a dog, he’s a loyal little pet to a demented power-hungry man, but only for the cameras. Only for those watching his every step. Not to her.

The only person who matters knows the truth, and Saikhan knows that he has that, at least, to hold on to. 


	42. The Aftermath of The Aftermath.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was beaten and bruised and Saikhan didn't want to ask.

That night, they didn’t sleep. Lin returned to her apartment at nearly three in the morning, and she hadn’t been in any sort of condition to be sleep, not yet.

A concussion, at least, bruised if not broken ribs… His chief had gotten quite the beating over the course of the night, and Saikhan was inwardly kicking himself for not having gone with her, to offer some sort of protection for her. 

Even if usually, she didn’t need it.

Lin had spoken briefly on what had happened, as he’d helped shed her of the heavy armor that was merely adding extra injury to her already abused body; she had refused to go to the hospital, something which Saikhan hadn’t blamed her for, and they’d done this enough over the years that they were both quite skilled at mending one another’s various injuries.

This time, however…

Her injuries were a tad more extensive than usual. 

Lin was leaning over the edge of the bathtub, her elbows crossed to hold herself up, as well as to provide modest, if unnecessary, cover for her bare chest as he knelt behind her, hands working carefully over her bruised and bleeding back.

" This will probably scar." He mused, only to met by a derisive snort from Lin, even as he began to stitch together one particularly nasty cut just above her waistline. 

" Just as long as it heals." She retorted, glancing back at him for a moment, green eyes flickering to his own. “Unless you think you can’t handle it,  **Captain**?" She asked, her tone teasing despite the grimness of the night.

He cocked an eyebrow at her, and then looked away, back to where he was still stitching. “I’m not the one who looks as though they’ve been trampled by a Moose-Lion, sir." Saikhan responded, his tone mild but eyes sharp, and the barest hints of a matching smirk tugging at his lips. 


	43. A Rift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During The Uprising, at some point. Saikhan can't sleep.

This was certainly not the first time he’s woken with her sheets wrapped around his waist, her deceptively soft palm resting against his chest as the morning light streamed in through where the curtains met.

But it was the first time since…

A small sigh left his parted lips as he watched her silently, through half-lidded eyes, watched the steady rise and fall of her chest as she slept on, seemingly oblivious to his gaze.

It was far too early for him to be awake, and had it been any other time, he wouldn’t have even awoken before Lin - he remembered many a morning where he’d woken to her lips brushing the hollow of his throat, and then felt the ghost of a smirk as her sure, capable hands wandered beneath sheets. 

But that felt as thought it had been eons, not a week prior, and that there had been an audible shift between them, a rift. It wasn’t mentioned, it wasn’t explicit, and perhaps… Perhaps he was imagining it.

But for what other reason would he have woken, because subconsciously… 

Part of him wished to leave, before dawn broke fully, and before the woman sleeping peacefully in his arms awoke. Before the light of day broke what fragile peace they’d found the night previously.

The light stretched further across the bed, and Saikhan didn’t move, not even as Lin’s eyelids flickered, mouth pursing in half-asleep agitation.

He couldn’t leave her.


End file.
